Numerous types of packages and packaging methods have been proposed over the years for economically and reliably delivering or relaying an "armed" suture i.e., a suture having a surgical needle attached, to a surgeon in a sterile condition. Besides maintaining sterility of the armed suture, its packaging must also provide convenient dispensing of the suture under the demanding conditions of surgery. Examples of modern suture packaging are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,902 to Sobel et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,551 to Cerwin et al. Both of these patents are owned by the assignee herein and disclose a generally oval suture package having a central needle park for holding or "parking" the surgical needle and a peripheral channel for receiving the suture filament attached to the needle. Due to the clearance between successive filament loops and the suture channel, the shape of the channel, and the material composition of the package, the suture can be withdrawn from the package without binding in the suture channel.
One of the functions of armed suture packaging is to hold or position the needle such that it can be readily and securely grasped with a suitable needle holder. In grasping the needle with the needle holder, it is desired that the package present the appropriate portion of the needle for grasping, i.e., towards the upper 1/4 of the needle proximate the suture end of the needle, and that the needle when grasped is in the correct orientation for use by the surgeon. This is particularly true with respect to curved needles which have an inherent directional sense and which therefore must be properly oriented in order to execute standard surgical technique, as discussed more fully below. Since the package may be used to present the needle at a specific orientation, a convention has been established as to needle orientation to promote efficiency and predictability in the operating room.
While suture manufacturers could produce specific packaging for left-handed and right-handed persons, it would complicate the surgical team's already complicated and demanding job, requiring that supplies for left and right handed surgeons by maintained and representing yet another detail to be monitored to prepare for and conduct surgery, i.e., to make sure that all the various sutures to be made available for use are of the correct handedness for the particular surgeon(s). As a result, presently available armed suture packages are oriented for use by right-handed persons. This is simply due to the facts that one or the other of the two orientations must be selected and that there are more right-handed persons than left-handed persons. Consequently, needles dispensed for left-handed surgeons must be manually reorientated in the needle holder by the scrub nurse or the surgeon prior to use. It would therefore be desirable to have a package for an armed suture that preserves the present simple needle orientation conventions while at the same time offering an accommodation to left-handed surgeons.